- The Observer,
- Sunday June 10 2007
Apocalypto
2006, 18, Icon
After the church-friendly ultra-violence of The Passion of the Christ , maverick-cum-madman Mel Gibson tackles a more pagan form of mayhem in this savage tale of human sacrifice, Mayan-style. Those who recognised the influence of Cannibal Holocaust on Gibson's body-bashing biblical epic will be unsurprised by the continued echoes of Ruggero Deodato's rugged sadism in this tale of a young tribesman earmarked for death by blood-spilling, limb-lopping jungle tyrants.
From the visceral tapir-hunt opening to the nihilistic finale, the sense of physical threat rarely lets up, with Gibson relishing the chance to put the audience (and large sections of the cast) through the meat-grinder. But to what end? Frankly, it's hard to divine any philosophical or theological purpose from a film in which even the barely glimpsed Christians are nothing but harbingers of death and destruction. Yet Gibson's entertainingly insane movie remains a solidly cinematic experience, boasting breathtaking visions of lime-soaked killing grounds that evoke a meatily horrific image of hell on earth.
The philosophy remains equally shallow on the film-maker's commentary track, save for a brief eco-warning about deforestation and some offhand comments about murderous priests resembling modern-day Congressmen. Gibson self-mockingly invites the listener to 'kick back and open up a soft drink' as he yaks lightheartedly over scenes of live cardiectomy ('That guy's gotta lotta heart!'), torture ('Hey, look, it's Jiminy Cricket!') and skull-busting impalement ('Ouch!'), adding that the real Mayan rituals were far more barbaric, so 'we're letting you off lightly here, folks!'
